and of all the near the ground, with his face upwards, and none ever look ed like his. There was an anxiety, a rage, a horror, and a despair to be seen in it, that no pencil could exprefs, gy for the nued. §. 3. Thus fell Euftace in the 29th year The apoloof his age, and by his hand his virtuous, married beautiful, and ingenious wife: and what are state contiwe to learn from thence? is it, that on fuch accounts, we ought to dread wedlock, and never be concerned with a wife; No, furely; but to be from thence convinced, that it is neceffary, in order to a happy marriage, to bring the will to the obedience of reason, and acquire an equanimity in the general tenour of life. Of all things in this world, moral dominion, or the empire over ourselves, is not only the most glorious, as reafon is the fuperior nature of man, but the most valuable, in refpect of real human happiness. A conformity to reason, or good fenfe, and to the inclination of our neighbours, with very little money, may produce great and lasting felicity; but without this fubfervience to our own reafon, complaifance to company, and foftnefs and benevolence to all around us, the greatest mifery does frequently fprout from the largest stock of fortunes. It was by ungoverned paffions, that Eu ftace murdered his wife and died himself, the most miferable and wretched of all human beings. He might have been the happieft of mortals, if he had conformed to the dictates of reason, and softened his paffions, as well for his own eafe, as in compliance to a creature formed with a mind of a quite different make from his own. There is a fort of fex in fouls; and, exclufive of that love and patience which our religion requires, every couple fhould remember, that there are things which grow out of their very natures, that are pardonable, when confidered as fuch. Let them not, therefore, be fpying out faults, nor find a fatisfaction in reproaching; but let them examine to what confequences their ideas tend, and refolve to ceafe from cherishing them, when they lead to contention and mifchief. Let them both endeavour to amend what is wrong in each other, and act as becomes their character, in practifing the focial duties of married perfons, which are fo frequently and strongly inculcated by revelation and natural reason; and then, instead of matrimony's being a burthen, and hanging a weight upon our very beings, there will be no appearance of evil in it, but harmony and joy will shed unmixed felicities on them: they will live in no. low degree of beatitude in the suburbs of heaven. This This was my cafe: wedlock to me became the greateft bleffing; a scene of the moft refined friendship, and a condition to which nothing can be added to complete the fum of human felicity. So I found the holy and fublime relation, and in the wilds of Weftmoreland, enjoyed a happiness as great as human nature is capable of, on this planet. Senfible to all the ties of focial truth and honour, my partner and I lived in perfect felicity, on the products of our folitary farm. The amiable difpofitions of her mind, chearfulness, good nature, difcretion, and diligence, gave a perpetual dignity and luftre to the grace and lovelinefs of her perfon; and as I did all that love and fidelity could do, by practifing every rule of caution, prudence, and juftice, to prevent variance, foften cares, and preferve affection undiminished, the harmony of our state was unmixed and divine. Since the primitive inftitution of the relation, it never existed in a more delightful manner. Devoted to each other's heart, we desired no other happiness in this world, than to pass life away together in the folitude we were in. We lived, hoped, and feared but for each other; and made it our daily ftudy to be what revealed religion prescribes, and the concurrent voice of nature requires, in the facred tie. Do fo likewise, ye mortals, who intend to marry, and ye may, like us, be happy. Our man ner of liv happy. As the instincts and paflions were wifely and kindly given us, to fubferve many purposes of our present ftate, let them have their proper, fubaltern fhare of action; but let reafon ever have the fovereignty, (the divine law of reafon and truth) and be, as it were, fail and wind to the veffel of life. §. 4. Two years, almoft, this fine fcene ing at Or- lafted, and during that period, the business ton-Lodge. and diverfions of our lone retreat appeared fo various and pleafing, that it was not poffible to think a hundred years fo fpent, in the leaft degree dull and tedious. Exclufive of books and gardening, and the improvement of the farm, we had, during the fine feafon, a thousand charming amufements on the mountains, and in the glens and vallies of that fweet filent place. Whole days we would fpend in fishing, and dine in fome cool grot by the water-fide, or under an aged tree, on the margin of fome beautiful stream. We generally ufed the fly and rod; but, if in hafte, had recourfe to one of the little water-falls, and, by fixing a net under one of them, would take a dozen or two of very large trouts, in a few minutes time. By a little water-fall, I mean one of thofe that are formed by fome fmall river, which tumbles there in various places, from rock to rock, about four feet each fall, and makes a moft most beautiful view from top to bottom of a fall. There are many of these falling waters among the vaft mountains of Westmoreland. I have feen them likewife in the Highlands of Scotland. water-falls. At Glencrow, half way between Dumbar- Glencro ton and Inverary, there are fome very fine ones, and just by them one Campbell keeps a poor inn. There we were entertained with water and whisky, oat-cakes, milk, butter, and trouts he took by the net, at one of the little falls of a river that defcends a prodigious mountain near his lone house, and forms, like what we have at Orton-Lodge, a most beautiful scene. Several happy days I paffed at this place, with a dear creature, who is now a faint in heaven. tench, in a fenny wa ter near Orton Lodge. At other times we had the diverfion of The great and tench as we pleased, of carp and age and fize taking as much carp and tench as we in a large, ftanding, fenny water, that lies about two miles from the lodge, in a glen, and always found the fish of this water of an enormous fize, three feet long, though the general length of fish of this fpecies is eleven inches in our ponds: this vaft bigness must be owing to the great age of these fish; I may suppose, at least, an hundred years; for it is certain, that in garden-ponds, which have, for experiment's fake, been left undif turbed for many years, the carp and tench |